runner's high.

i went for my weekly long run this morning. in the cold november october rain. it was 6°c. two weeks ago, it was 28°c; summer has directly turned into winter this year. oh autumn, where art thou?

dreaded heading out there this morning, but absolutely had to: i was actually due to run yesterday, but life happened, and instead of running in the morning, i sat at my docs' office, and instead of running after work, the boyfriend and i went out for a dance performance and sushi.

so i crawled out of bed at 7:30am (thankfully at the same time as my boyfried, who had to get up early as well to pick up the dog for the weekend, yay), put on my winter running clothes for rainy weather and went for a run in the rain. couldn't quite believe it myself.

the first ten minutes were a bit cold and odd, because i was still noticing the rain and thinking lots of 'i should be inside!!!!'-thoughts, but as soon as i hit the first incline that i run everytime, i didn't care anymore, and it was all good. ran a route i hadn't run before, through the posh hily neighbourhood next to ours, and got some nice views of the city and got to ogle some nice houses and think about properly moving in with the guy (which we've been talking about a lot, lately), and sang along to a few of my fave songs and felt free and awesome and happy. good stuff. i ran about 10k in an hour and did some speed work at the very end of it and then slowly jogged home, beaming.

i still don't quite get that running is so very easy, and awesome and fun. i love running now, absolutely love it. it makes me feel so strong and independent and happy. i don't know how this happened, because i hated running all my life, dreaded running in school, avoided it at all costs, failed at several walk-to-run-programs time and again. and six months ago? i wouldn't have dreamed of being able to run for an hour without stopping. but now i do. and i'm hungry for more. how crazy.

in any way: it's all good.

i'm absolutely rocking my runner's hight right now and i'll have a bit of breakfast now and then head to the gym. oh yes.

my first long run.

i did my first 10k-prep long run today. at 7am. and it was awesome. supersuperawesome, actually. 7am is about as dark as 8pm, but then -omfg!- it gets lighter. which is kinda amazing to run in, even on a drizzly, grey day like today. i loved it. listened to my new nike running tracks (drive and cassiusplay), and just spaced out for an hour. very lovely. all my fretting about it (i was so nervous beforehand, that i actually woke up at 5am, kinda ready to go) was totally not necessary, and even dressing for it was surprisingly easy, despite the kinda shitty weather. i wore my fave running tights and a cheapo running jacket i bought years ago but never wore - it's superlight but has got a kinda water resistant front, very nice.

my 60 minute superslow run translated into about 9k, which is pretty alright, i guess. totally underestimated though, yet again, how far one can actually run in an hour (even if that one is me), and had to run a few laps around the block near home to make up for the last ten minutes. i really don't want to plan my runs out to the last k (don't want to get stressed out if i choose a different road or whatnot), but at the same time i need to figure out some basic routes that are long enough, so that i'm not scrambling for distance halfway through my runs. well, well, i'll get there.

and lastly: i've actually signed up for the 10k. e. (the amazing running machine!) made me do it! :)

10k.

and talking of goals: there's a 10k in a nearby town on november 8. actually, there's both a 5k and a 10k that day. and that 10k? is tempting me. evil little thing.

pros:

• further than i've ever run
• the prep will keep me motivated through october
• nice location

cons:

• further than i've ever run
• are four weeks enough prep time?

i'll definitely run that day, unless there's a giant appointment clash that weekend. got to talk to the bf about it.

i'd actually wanted to save my first 10k-thing for spring, to keep myself motivated through fall and winter. but maybe i should just do it now and get it over with?